Landmine threat in Balkan floods

Belgrade: Thousands of people crammed into boats and army trucks have fled their homes in Serbia and Bosnia after record rainfall turned the Sava River into a deadly torrent and caused the worst floods in more than a century.

According to officials in both countries, the disaster has killed at least 44 people.

Some towns have been cut off and rescue teams feared the worst as improving weather allowed them to move in.

A group is evacuated over flooded streets in the Serbian town of Obrenovac. Photo: AFP

Russian cargo planes carrying boats, generators and food joined rescue teams from around Europe and thousands of local volunteers in evacuating people and building flood defences after the Sava, swollen by days of torrential rain, burst its banks. Rains eased and floodwaters receded on Sunday in some of the worst-hit areas, but the Sava was forecast to rise further.

Advertisement

About 10,000 people have been evacuated so far from the worst-affected areas of northern Bosnia. In the town of Samac, hundreds of stranded residents were waiting to be rescued.

"We sent rescue teams into a part of the city we had not been able to access so far. They are entering those areas fearing what they might discover," Mayor Samo Minic said on Sunday.

A flooded area in Obrenovac. Photo: AP

The worst rainfall since records began in the late 19th century caused landslides that brought more destruction and also prompted a landmine warning. Bosnia's de-mining agency said residents around the towns of Doboj, Maglaj and Olovo - which saw fierce fighting during the war in the 1990s - should be particularly wary.

Twenty of the 27 deaths recorded in Bosnia occurred in the north-eastern town of Doboj, while on the other side of the Sava River, in Serbia, at least 16 bodies were found. The regional police chief there described a "tsunami" of water.

A Reuters cameraman at the scene said half the town was still submerged.

Sandbags protect the banks of the Sava River in the Serbian city of Sremska Mitrovica. Photo: AFP

Prime Minister of Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic Zeljka Cvijanovic compared the devastation with Bosnia's 1992-95 war, in which 100,000 people died. "The damage is such that we cannot recall even after the war," she said.

Residents escape on a boat in the flooded town of Obrenovac. Photo: Reuters

The death toll in Serbia stood at 16, with 12 bodies recovered from the worst-hit Serbian town of Obrenovac, he said. "Unfortunately, there are estimates that the death toll will be higher."

In Croatia, the government said one person had died and two were missing in flooded villages in the eastern corner of the country near Bosnia and Serbia. The army used amphibious vehicles to help evacuate about 3000 people.

The Ukraine emergencies ministry said electricity had been cut to about 100 villages in the north and west because of heavy rains and winds, although no casualties had been reported.